


you made up for my life

by aquaticflames



Series: birthplace [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, i am my own beta we die like men, this is set one year before Tony discovers time travel so Peter's still dead and Tony's still sad :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 16:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquaticflames/pseuds/aquaticflames
Summary: "Tony?"He didn't startle, but it was a damn near thing. Pepper had poked her head into the garage, brow furrowed."Why did Morgan have grease on her palms?"..."She asked me for another story when I put her to bed yesterday. About her brother."–––title from novo amor'semigrate





	you made up for my life

Tony was always the one to do the dishes. He didn’t think it was ever formally decided between them, but Pepper knew he treasured every moment of normality he could get his hands on. Nothing had ever been _ normal _ for him. He’d grown up with the abnormal, waded through it.

And now he did the dishes. Because that was normal, and it was precious to him.

He was never good at cooking before the world was forced into disorder, either. When chaos rained down on them, he knew he needed things that could keep him sane. He remembered one awful evening when Pepper had pulled him out of a panicked haze, begging him to try and survive.

Try and _ live _. For her and the baby. 

So he’d taken up cooking too. It was just small things at first – little treats for Pepper that he could present to her when she collapsed onto the sofa after a rigorous workday, even if just to see her radiant smile. He managed to stop burning cookies and cakes after a fortnight or so, and moved to proper meals not long after.

With four years of practice under his belt, cooking for the two of them – and then all of a sudden the _ three _ of them – he’d say he could make a _ damn _ good italian roulade. 

Evolving from a household of two to three had been one of the most terrifying things about the last four years. With the rest of the world still keenly following every movement they let the press see, he and Pepper were beyond careful with their daughter. After the majority of cleanup and rescue wrapped up, they’d hidden themselves away in a secluded corner of the state – one of Happy’s finds, actually – and Tony wouldn’t have it any other way.

That way, Morgan could run as free as she liked around the perimeter, and all he had to do was watch from the porch step with a book. It was the kind of normal he’d ached for in his younger years, and he’d be damned if he didn’t give that and more to his little girl.

“Hands up, mister!”

The sound of footsteps racing into the room made him stop his absent-minded scrubbing of a pot and put down the dish sponge, facing the newcomer to see who his captor was.

“You promised me a Juice Pop,” Morgan stated, a smile playing at her little lips. “–and it's almost bedtime. If I can’t have it today then I get _ two _ tomorrow.”

Palm out, she wielded an Iron gauntlet prototype on her tiny wrist, grinning as she prepared to blast him. Tony could tell from a glance that it was well and truly inactive – otherwise he’d’ve had it off her faster than light – but he played along regardless.

“Now that’s extortion, little miss,” He stripped off his rubber gloves and discarded them over the drying rack, waltzing towards her and casually glancing aloft. “–which is concerning, but not as concerning as where you scrounged _ that _ from!”

Dipping down suddenly he scooped her from the ground and hefted her into the air, revelling in her delighted giggle as he propped her on his hip.

“Did you go _ looking _for this?” He prodded the junk and gave her a playfully stern look. “–Or did ‘it find you’ like always?”

“No comment.” She teased, sticking her tongue out when he gasped. 

“Well you’re just going to have to show me where you got it from then.” He walked them through the living room towards the garage. At her pout, he rolled his eyes. “–_ Then _ you can have your Juice Pop.”

She grew quiet after that, fiddling with the scrap of tech loosely sat on her arm. Just as Tony found himself growing worried by her silence, she spoke up suddenly.

“How does it work?” She continued to poke and prod at it, turning it around and reangling it as though seeing it from a new perspective would reveal its inner workings. _ God _ , she blew him away sometimes. She snapped up to glare at him then, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “–And _ don’t _ say ‘I’ll tell you soon’. You always say that.”

“You want the truth?” He supplied, and she nodded sceptically as they reached the storage boxes towards the back of the garage. “Truth is, for alotta this stuff, your daddy had help making it. So I really can’t explain it all by myself.”

“Who helped you make it? Can mummy help explain?” Her expression grew hopeful. Knowing he’d have to turn her down for the umpteenth time _ hurt _ . “You could explain the bits _ you _ did.”

“I could.” He chuckled, following her to the exact crate she’d squirrelled the junk from. “And Uncle James helped a bit. Remember Bruce? Him too.” She stood on tiptoes, opened the box, and carefully replaced the part. At his silence, she turned expectantly.

“And Peter. Peter… he helped a _ lot _, kiddo.”

She _ beamed _, and instantly he knew this had been her endgame all along.

“Peter helped?”

“‘Course he did.” Tony scooped her up again, and she drew in close to his side, throwing her arms around his neck. He shuffled forward to close the box’s lid, when she threw out an arm and pointed down into it.

“What about that one? Tell me about that one!”

Following her line of sight, he found the piece she so desperately wanted to know about; An old drone from the first Spider-Man suit he’d developed, safely tucked away in a glass display box. Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he bent down to pick it up.

“This one?” She nodded, grabbing palms grasping it tightly when he held it close enough. The absolute _ wonder _ in her eyes filled him from his core with warmth. “That was Pete’s, too. That was the first one I made him, but he made one a hundred times better than I could after that.”

“A hundred times?” She breathed. “You _ have _ to teach me how to do that too!”

Morgan took Tony’s breath away. Her absolute yearning for insight knew no boundaries, and he was so _ scared _ for her sometimes. Her curiosity had taken her closer to accident more times than he was comfortable admitting to as her parent, even disregarding the fame she held worldwide that she couldn't even _ comprehend _yet. 

As far as she understood, Tony and Pepper were just that: Mum and Dad.

It was how they wanted it to be. Long conversations as Pepper came to term had decided that, and it scared them both shitless what she may one day have to face as a consequence of their reputations. 

To no fault of her own, she likely already had a price on her head; if the location of their home was any indication, Tony would rather die than let that come to fruition. 

Something heavy settled in his stomach at her words– heavy and sombre. 

One day, she'd _ have _to know.

"Sure." Tony dragged a response up from the part of his brain still present with Morgan, rather than back deep in his endless _ what ifs. _ "Pete was incredible with all this. _ Is _ incredible."

Setting his daughter down on the floor, he crouched down to be on eye-level with her, catching one of her cheeks and pinching it affectionately. Carefully reigning back the thoughts threatening to take him anywhere but right by her side, he cracked a smile. "–And you will be too, squirt. But for now, your Juice Pop is behind the vegetable drawer. Get mummy to help you."

He soaked up her last smile before she gingerly handed the drone back and bounded off, distantly badgering Pepper from somewhere in the living room. With creaking joints he rose to his feet, one hand stuffed in his pocket, the other clutching the shiny keep-sake, and wandered back to the storage crates. 

Just as Morgan had with the bracer, he carefully replaced it, packing all manner of old tech safely around it. Despite their major down-size in property he hadn't been able to part with the more sentimental items– entire stacks-full holding Peter's old belongings. With May unable to account for them either, he'd taken as much of it as he could into storage and failed to look at any of it since. 

Shutting the crate he stepped back, taking in the room and rubbing a tired hand over his mouth.

He hated that, despite keeping as much of the kid's things as possible, three or four boxes were _ all _ that he had to his name now.

"Tony?" He didn't startle, but it was a damn near thing. Pepper had poked her head into the garage, brow furrowed. "Why did Morgan have grease on her palms?"

He couldn't help but smile, an ache settling somewhere deep in his chest at the remark. An old memory surfaced at her words – of throwing a well-aimed rag at his protégé’s head, and snorting when the boy proceeded to rub the grease further round his face.

He felt rather than saw Pepper swing over to him, and when her hand came to rest on his shoulder, bracing him, he placed one of his own atop hers. 

"Everyday she becomes more like him, Pep."

Pepper's warmth enveloped him, her arm sliding down his back to settle at his waist. She let her hair tumble over his shoulder, head rested there. "I know," He could hear the smile in her tone, despite the sorrow it held. "She asked me for another story when I put her to bed yesterday. About her brother. She doesn't know him as anything else."

Tony feels like he's going to choke on it. It's been _ four years _. Four years since he lost his first chance and was blessed with his second.

"He was just a _ kid _." He scrubs at his eyes. "God, he would have loved her."

"Without a doubt," Pepper lifts her head from its position and spins him to meet his eyes, her own gaze searching. "He does. He _ does _ love her."

He'd definitely grown sentimental in the last few years– hell, if he'd been wrapped around Peter's little finger four years ago, what did that say about him now? But he'd realised what Peter had _ truly _ meant to him when Morgan came along; The blazing warmth that filled his chest looking at Morgan had been hauntingly familiar, déjà vu leaving him winded– and only then did the realisation of what he’d _ truly _lost hit him. 

He had no doubt in his mind that Pepper was right. 

"Absolutely."

**Author's Note:**

> i began writing this at work last week and i work in a lab full time; i have _no_ idea how young children act and i have zero contact with sane humans so forgive me for mistakes.
> 
> i have a companion piece for this as part of a series so buckle up n subscribe homies; the next one is full of ironfam cuties.
> 
> (every installation is going to be named after lyrics from Novo Amor's album 'Birthplace' because it is my all time favourite and i want it to reach as many people as possible)


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